


One Day You're Old

by runawaycartoonist



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Brotherly Love, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, platonic, self reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 02:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6935575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runawaycartoonist/pseuds/runawaycartoonist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stanley Pines stared at his reflection. He was old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Day You're Old

Stanley Pines stared at his reflection. He was old.

It was an obvious fact, but it felt strange to think that about himself. He hadn’t always been old. One time, he’d been young and full of hope. Later, he’d been less young and full of despair. Later still, he was middle-aged and doing kind of okay with his shtick.

He tried to imagine what Stanford would look like if he was standing next to him. They were nearly the same. Just add a cleft chin and narrower shoulders and horn-rimmed glasses.

Stanley sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thick fingers. He took off his glasses and stared at his reflection. 

It was always easier to pretend that his reflection was his twin when his vision was blurry.

“Hey, Stanford,” he said.

He mimicked his brother’s voice, “ _ Hey, Stanley. _ ”

“I miss you,” he said.

“ _ I miss you, too, and you’re the best brother in the world and we should go sailing together like we always planned and I’m sorry we were ever apart. _ ”

“Ford, we’re old men.”

Stanley sighed. He hoped to god that his brother was still alive. He’d spent more than half his life working on the portal to bring him back. He desperately wanted it to work. It had to work.

It had to.

He put his glasses on and left the bathroom.

...

Stanley Pines was sitting at a small table on the Stan O’ War II, a cup of coffee in his weathered hands. He was old.

His hands had built up callouses, his knuckles were knotted, his hair tousled by the salty sea air. He felt happier than he had in years.

Stanford Pines sat across the table from him, a nautical map spread over the table, a pen between his teeth. His fingers trailed along the worn paper, his brow wrinkled in concentration. He was old.

They were old, and they got to be old together. Stanley wasn’t sure they would ever have that chance.

“Ford?”

He looked up and took the pen from his teeth. “Yeah, Stan?”

“Do you ever think about the fact that we’re old?”

“Every time my knee goes out, yeah.”

Stan cupped his hands around his coffee mug. The surface of his drink rippled when a large wave rocked the boat. “It’s not that we’re old it’s that… well, most of our lives are behind us. We don’t have much time left.”

“No,” said Ford thoughtfully. “We don’t. That means we need to utilize what time we have left, and I think we’re doing a pretty good job, don’t you? The adventure of a lifetime and all.”

“True.” Stan smiled a little, then his expression dropped. “Do you ever wish we could have… I dunno… done things differently?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Like how?”

Stan made a vague gesture. “Just… things worked out in the end, but that forty years in the middle? Damn.”

Ford put down his pen and sighed. “Not a day goes by when I wish things could have gone differently.”

Stan traced his fingertip around the top edge of his mug. “Me too. But… things are good now, huh?”

“Yeah. Better than they’ve been in a long, long time.” Ford smiled. His eyes crinkled when he did. “I couldn’t ask for a better twin.”

Stan grinned widely. His smile hadn’t changed since he was a kid. “Me neither.”

Ford picked up his pen and made some notes on the paper. Stan sipped his coffee. The waves rocked against the boat.

Being old wasn’t so bad, after all.


End file.
